Terminal attaching machines



Jan. 17, 1967 1.. A. NETTA 3,298,217

TERMINAL ATTACHING MACHINES Filed Feb. 7, 1964 .INVENTOR. 400/3 /4, Nam

TiLEl.5. BY 7% United States Patent Ofiice 3,298,217 Patented Jan. 17, 1967 3,298,217 TERMINAL ATTACHING MACHINES Louis A. Netta, North Brunswick, N.J., assignor to The Thomas & Betts Company, Incorporated, Elizabeth, NJ. a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 7, 1964, Ser. No. 343,373 Claims. (Cl. 72--326) The present invention relates to an improved terminal attaching machine which insures positive removal of terminals c-rimped onto the ends of prepared wires from the crimping area, and more particularly, relates to modifications of standard terminal attaching machines to remove the cut-off portion of the normal ram employed to a position susbtantially beyond the point where crimping of the terminal occurs.

In standard terminal attaching machines, such as that illustrated in co-pending application Serial No. 287,881, now United States Patent No. 3,245,135 issued April 12, 1966, a strip of terminals is fed by an indexing pawl along a flat surface until the terminal still attached to the strip is crimped onto a lead by a ram having attached to it an insulation gripping tool, a wire gripping tool and a cut-off blade. In other words, when the ram descends, the insulation gripping'portion of the terminal and the wire gripping portion of the terminal are acted upon by separate rolling tools to cause a firm attachment between the insulation on the wire and the insulation grip of the terminal, as well as the wire being firmly attached to the wire attached portion of the terminal. In the automatic wire handling device described in the aforementioned copending application, a cutoff tool is also provided at the terminal attaching position so that the terminal is physically cut away from the strip. It has been found that the ejection pawl portion of the terminal indexing device has ejected the crimped terminal and its lead, but that the leads, because of their entanglement with each other on the ends which have not been carried by the feed drum, have caused a further entanglement of the wires, and difliculty has been encountered in separating the individual wires with their crimped terminals from the bundle collected in the wagon illustrated.

The object of this invention is to insure positive ejection of the terminals from the crimping area of a terminal attaching machine and leaving the terminals attached in strip form until the wires with their crimped terminals are well beyond the position of the crimping area.

It is a further object of this invention to provide for cut-ofi means for a terminal attaching device which is positioned at a location substantially removed from the crimping area of such attaching machine.

A still further object is to provide for the removal of the standard cut-off blade from the ram of a terminal attaching device, providing an arm attached to the ram, a spring loaded plunger carried by the aforesaid arm, a cut-off arm positioned beyond the crimping area which is caused to rotate by the aforesaid plunger in order to separate the individual terminals from the strip of terminals at a point substantially beyond the crimping area.

With these and other objects and advantages described below in mind, the improved terminal attaching device of this invention is described in detail below and illus trated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective of a portion of a terminal attaching device having thereon an automatic wire handling device of the character described in copending application Serial No. 287,881, and including the improvement which is this invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view in partial section of a portion of the device illustrated in FIG. 1 which illustrates the improved apparatus of this invention; and

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of one means of biasing the cutoff arm of the device of FIGURE 2.

In the device schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, the terminal attaching device of this invention, shown generally at 8, includes a number of elements which are not illustrated here. Normally such elements include means for driving the device to cause a ram 9 to be reciprocated at a constant rate. Also an automatic wire handling device maybe included, certain elements of which are illustrated herein for purposes of clarity. Such an automatic wire handling device would include: a hopper 10, in which are positioned a bundle of individual wires 12 and by means described in co-pending application Serial No. 287,881 are segregated, positioned in the slots 14 of a rotary feed drum 16 and carried to a terminal attaching position 18 where a feed wheel (not shown) moves the wires 10 along their horizontal axis until they are fed into their correct terminal attaching position. A strip of terminals 20 is indexed along surface 22 so as to position an individual terminal 211 at the terminal attaching position 18 at the time an individual wire 12 is fed into the terminal attaching position 18. The strip of terminals 20 is indexed by the action of an indexing pawl 24, which is attached to rotary cam 26. The cam 26 is rotated by a cam follower 28 attached to ram 9 of the terminal attaching device 8. The cam 26 has two lobes 32, 34 on it. When the ram 9 descends, the lobe 32 is acted on by cam follower 28 causing the cam 26 to rotate clockwise. This causes indexing pawl 24 to be moved to the left, as seen in FIG. 2. A spring (not shown) tends to bias index pawl 24 downwardly so that as the index pawl 24 is moved to the left, its tip 36 will ride over the next terminal in line and will fall in the space between the individual terminals or strip 20. When the ram 9 moves upward carrying arm 30 with it, cam follower 28 acts on lobe 34 of cam 26 causing counterclockwise rotation of cam 26. This in turn causes index pawl 24 to move to the right, as illustrated in FIG. 2, and pushes the strip 20 of individual terminals 21 so as to index the strip along surface 22 for a distance corresponding to the space between individual terminals 21.

As the ram 9 descends, rolling tools, illustrated at 38, contact the wire gripping and insulation gripping portions of terminals 21 and roll them around the insulation and wire firmly attaching an individual terminal 21 to a wire 12. As indicated previously, the upward movement of the ram will cause another individual terminal 21 to be positioned in the terminal attaching position 18. At the same time the rotary feed drum 16 indexes and feeds an individual wire 12 into the just-positioned terminal 21 at terminal attaching position 18.

In terminal attaching device described in the aforementioned co-pending application, in addition to the rolling tools 38, a cut-01f blade was provided so that at the time the crimping action occurred, the individual terminals 21 were separated from the strip of terminals 20. In the device of this invention, no cut-ofi tool is provided at the terminal attaching position 18.

In place thereof, an arm 40 is rigidly attached to ram 9 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The arm 40 will reciprocate along with ram 9. A spring-loaded plunger 42 is carried in arm 40. The spring 44 is under compression between the lower portion of arm 40 and a collar 46 attached to plunger 42.

Cut-off arm 48 is pivotally attached to shoulder 50 and carries a blade 52 at the position illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The cut-01f arm 48 may be either pivotally attached to the lower end of plunger 4-2 (see FIG. 2) or may be spring biased upwardly against the lower end of plunger 42 (see FIG. 3). When the ram 9 descends, it carries arm 40 with it and compresses spring 44 until the spring 44 is compressed sufiiciently far to cause plunger 42 to move downwardly. The downward movement of plunger 42 causes the cut-otf arm 48 to move counterclockwise, as illustrated in the figures, forcing blade 52 to sever the portion of the strip of terminal which connects individual terminals 21.

The next indexing of the strip of terminals 20 caused by indexing pawl 24 pushes the severed terminal onto the inclined surface 54 of surface 22 where, by gravity, the wire 12, with its terminal 21 attached, drops into wagon 56. Since the wires with their terminals attached are positively indexed away from the terminal attaching position 18, because the strip 20 remains intact, the wires 12 are more positively removed from slots 14. Also a constant space is maintained between terminals attached to leads until the cut-off position is reached, at which point the wires are dropped individually into wagon 56, thus insuring a more uniform stacking of finished leads in wagon 56.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the distance between cut-off blade 52 and terminal attaching position 18 is shown as being equal to the space occupied by three terminals. It will be appreciated that this distance may be varied so as to be more or less so long as there is a positive removal of the strip of terminals with wires 12 attached for a distance which insures uniform stacking of finished leads 58 in Wagon 56.

While the device illustrated and described represents a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated that mechanical equivalents can be employed without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a terminal attaching machine of the character described which includes a reciprocating terminal crimping ram, a strip of terminals to be crimped, a terminal crimping station, means for advancing a terminal to said station for each reciprocating cycle of said ram, the improvement which comprises means for severing a terminal from said strip of terminals, said severing means positioned adjacent to said terminal strip and substantially beyond the terminal crimping station, spring biased means mounted on said ram, said spring biased means coacting with said terminal severing means such that said ram and said spring biased means mounted on said ram cause said terminal severing means to sever a terminal from said strip of terminals at a point substantially beyond said terminal crimping station.

2. The improvement in terminal attaching machines of claim 1, wherein said spring biased means comprises an arm mounted on said ram, a spring loaded plunger carried in said arm, a collar mounted on said plunger and a spring under compression between the lower portion of said arm and said collar on said plunger.

3. The improvement in terminal attaching machines of claim 2, wherein said terminal severing means comprises a cutoff arm pivotally mounted adjacent said terminal strip, said arm provided with a blade for severing terminals from said terminal strip.

4. The improvement in terminal attaching machines of claim 3, wherein said cut-off arm is spring biased upwardly against the lower end of said plunger.

5. The improvement in terminal attaching machines of claim 3, wherein said cutofi: arm is pivotally attached to the lower end of said plunger.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1958 Davis et al. 29203 10/1961 Krol et al. 29203 

1. IN A TERMINAL ATTACHING MACHINE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED WHICH INCLUDES A RECIPROCATING TERMINAL CRIMPING RAM, A STRIP OF TERMINALS TO BE CRIMPED, A TERMINAL CRIMPING STATION, MEANS FOR ADVANCING A TERMINAL TO SAID STATION FOR EACH RECIPROCATING CYCLE OF SAID RAM, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES MEANS FOR SEVERING A TERMINAL FROM SAID STRIP OF TERMINALS, SAID SEVERING MEANS POSITIONED ADJACENT TO SAID TERMINAL STRIP AND SUBSTANTIALLY BEYOND THE TERMINAL CRIMPING STATION, SPRING BIASED MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID RAM, SAID SPRING BIASED MEANS COACTING WITH SAID TERMINAL SEVERING MEANS SUCH THAT SAID RAM AND SAID SPRING 